To:KARL KAUTSKY

Published:First published in 1964 in German in the journalInternational ReviewofSocial History, Vol. IX, Part 2.

      First published in Russian in 1965 inCollected Works, Fifth (Russian) Ed., Vol. 54.

      Sent to Berlin.

      Printed from the original.

      Translated from the German.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,[1977],

      Moscow,Volume 43,

      page114a.Translated:Martin Parker and Bernard IsaacsTranscription\Markup:R. CymbalaPublic Domain:Lenin Internet Archive

      (2005).You may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
	Archive” as your source.•README

DearComrade,

Iam enclosing a copy of the Russian translation of your pamphlet
(The Social Revolution). I have madeonly oneremark on
pages 129–30, where on the basis of Russian industrial statistics I have
shown how much Russia too could economise by organising bigger enterprises
(100 and more workers) working two or three shifts, and by closing down
small ones.

TheRussian translation of the pamphlet has been printed in 5,000
copies.[1]

Withbest regards,Lenin

Wl.UlianoffChemin du Foyer. 10.Sécheron—Genéve

[1]Kautsky’spamphletDie soziale Revolutionwas published in
Geneva in 1903 in the Russian translation by N. Karpov, edited by
Lenin. The editors’ note on pages 129–30 reads: “To show the reader how
great is the concentration of industry in contemporary Russia we shall give
two examples. In 1894–95 the number of factories and workshops (i.e.,
enterprises using mechanical power or employing no less than 16 workers) in
European Russia was estimated at 14,578, with 885,555 workers and output
totalling 1,345 million rubles. Of these the big factories, i.e., with 100
or more workers, numbered only 1,468, i.e., one-tenth, but they employed
656,009 workers, near y three-fourths of the total, and the value of their
output amounted to 955 million rubles, i.e., seven-tenths of the total
sum. From this one can judge how radically we could raise productivity of
labour, increase wages and reduce working hours if we expropriated all the
manufacturers, closed down the small enterprises, and left only one and a
half thousand big factories working two eight-hour shifts or three
five-hour shifts! Another example. In 1890 there were aboutnine and a
half thousandhandicraft tanneries in European Russiawith 21,000 workers and output totalling 12 million rubles. At the same
time 66 steam-powered tanneries with 5 1/2 thousand workers also produced
12 million rubles’ worth of output!”